by Orla Bailey
He’s taking ages but I can hardly complain if he wants to catch up with his family first. They haven’t seen each other in a while.
When I feel the Sirocco and catch the faint scent of Clive Christian, it soothes me. I open my eyes to find it’s already morning and Jack is sitting on the side of my bed watching me. It’s the best way to wake up, ever. He hands me a single pink rose from my bouquet and I reach out slowly to take it from his hand.
“Thank you.”
“I love you.”
“I love you, too, Jack.”
It’s such a romantic gesture. I twirl it slowly in my fingers, first admiring its beauty then bringing it to my nose to enjoy its delicate perfume.
Jack let me sleep alone last night. I was so certain he couldn’t wait to get me in his bed again but he cares more about my needs than about his own.
“You didn’t come to my bed last night.”
“No.” He offers no further explanation.
“Okay.” I trust his motives and I’m not afraid anymore of what it might mean.
I’m sure he senses I’m accepting his wishes as his lips curve fondly.
I contentedly stretch my arms above my head and my legs in the opposite direction, arching my back in between.
“Don’t do that,” he whispers.
“What? I’m stretching.”
“I know you’re stretching. Don’t.”
I relax out of it, lazily reclining in the warmth of the bed again. “Why shouldn’t I stretch?”
“Because it makes me imagine how good you stretching would feel underneath me.”
I can’t help my lips curving at that thought. I haven’t had nearly enough sex this past week either. It’s such a sea-change from the way things normally are between Jack and me.
“So lie with me then.” I gaze into his eyes and make my voice all flirty as I start to stretch again.
He stops me. “Get up.”
“Why? What time is it?”
“Half past early. The others are still in bed but I want to take you somewhere before the mayhem begins.”
“Can’t you take me right here?” I joke, patting the bed beside me.
“I could take you anywhere.” His Arctic blue eyes burn with lust and fire. “But I don’t want you thinking sex is all I want from you.”
“Is that why you’ve hardly touched me?”
“No.”
I sigh. This could become a bad habit. “Okay.”
He squints at me, as if he doesn’t quite believe I’m being so acquiescent. “Good girl. Get up. Wear jeans. I’ll go find you some wellies.”
“Wellington boots?”
“I’m taking you out to see my father’s farm.”
“Cows?”
He slips out the door chuckling.
Jack leaves me thinking he’s nothing if not unexpected. As soon as I’m ready I creep downstairs quietly so as not to wake anyone else on their weekend morning lie-in. I find a pair of green Hunter Wellington boots at the bottom of the stairs that fit me, so I slip them on.
Jack is in the kitchen stirring milk into coffee. He tosses me half a Danish pastry which I make a right mess catching. When he rolls his eyes at me, I bend to gather up the crumbs from the solid oak floor.
“Didn’t anyone ever tell you, you shouldn’t play with your food?” he says.
“It wasn’t a problem growing up. I had no-one to play with,” I remind him.
He comes across to me and pulls me to my feet. He looks into my eyes with sincerity in his. “You have someone to play with now.”
“Don’t say that.”
“Why not?” He frowns.
“It makes me imagine playing with you.” I beam at my own innuendo and he returns the look, slapping me on the rump.
“Don’t talk like that. You’re more refined.”
I pop a piece of pastry in his mouth and he takes my hand, licking the sweet crumbs off my fingers. I take a bite of my own and we chew with our lips mashing against each other’s as we kiss simultaneously. It’s so sweetly familiar and intimate, I’d give anything to be able to make this my tradition for every Saturday morning to come. It sure beats nursing a lonely hangover.
A Jeep Grand Cherokee is waiting out front and we head off. There’s little traffic around this early and it doesn’t take long to leave the city and suburbs far behind as we head into the surrounding countryside. It’s a beautiful sunny morning with blue skies above. The hedgerows team with wildlife.
As we pull through an enormous barred gate, I know we’ve arrived at the farmyard.
“My father’s semi-retired now, but he keeps the farms going. He has managers to run them nowadays. Grew up on the land, you see.” He takes me on a tour. Already there are farm workers about and they know and greet Jack cheerily as we pass.
“This farm took on a new deputy-manager recently. You should meet him.” Jack’s almost mischievous demeanour alerts me to something going on that I can’t quite put my finger on. Before I have a chance to wonder, he ushers me ahead of him into a small office. “I’ll be back in a minute.” I’m surprised when he closes the door behind him leaving me alone there.
Although I’m not alone.
A man waiting inside turns to face me. “Good morning, ma’am.”
“Phil!” I’m stunned. And thrilled. “What are you doing in Ireland?” I can hardly believe the person staring right back at me.
He laughs. It’s something I’ve never seen him do before and it fills my heart. “I work here, ma’am. I’m not living on the streets anymore.”
I laugh too. He looks so much better than last time I saw him. Healthier. Happier. He sounds more together too. His eyes focus on me instead of an unseen enemy. I step up to take his rough hands in mine so I can get a better look at him. “Tell me how this happened, Phil?”
“After the dust-up between me and Mr Keogh, we started talking. In the Accident and Emergency room while we were getting patched up.” Phil hangs his head. “I’m sorry about the knife and all, ma’am. I didn’t realise I did it.”
“It’s okay.”
“I didn’t hurt you did I?”
“No. You’ve never hurt me. You wouldn’t.”
“I didn’t mean to scare you either.”
I wait until he looks me in the eye. “No harm done.”
He nods and continues his story. “Mr Keogh contacted a few people he knows and here I am.”
“Are you happy here? Do you like what you’re doing?”
“Much better than the way I was living. I needed help but I didn’t know it. Mr Keogh helped me to see that.”
I nod too. I was so busy feeling sorry for Phil I didn’t actually help him in any real sense. It took Jack’s intelligent practicality to do that and I know he did it for my sake as much as for Phil’s. He’s showing me in his own special way he trusts my judgement and listens to what I have to say. Jack is a very special man. Tears of love for him spring to my eyes.
“Don’t cry ma’am.”
“They’re happy tears, Phil.” I love Jack even more for doing this. And for trusting Phil and I alone together.
“It makes me very glad to know you’re settled, Phil.”
“I lost my way. Couldn’t see any future after leaving the armed forces so I got kind of stuck in the past. It’s easier to stick to what you know, rather than change it and sometimes you need a shove in the right direction. Mr Keogh gave me that push.”
Phil could be speaking for either one of us. I’ve been living with my mistrust of the past too. I hug Phil tightly until I sense he feels uncomfortable with the over-familiarity. I step back.
“Keep in touch, Phil. I really want to know how you get on.”
“I’ll do that, ma’am and thank you.”
The door opens and Jack enters again. I offer him a look of shining gratitude for what he’s done for Phil and for me. Jack winks at me.
“How’re things working out, Phillip?” Jack offers his hand.
Phil tak
es it and the two men shake cordially. They have a comfortable air of respect for each other that warms my heart.
“Everything’s going well, Mr Keogh and I appreciate the opportunity, sir.”
“I’ve been hearing you’re an asset to the business already. Good man. Keep it up.”
“Yes, sir.”
We take our leave. Around the corner I stop, grab Jack round the waist and hug him tight.
“Thank you so much for helping Phil.” I remember Jack’s gut reaction when he thought Phil might hurt me.
“It was your doing really.”
“Mine?”
“You taught me to have faith, despite what things look like. You have good judgement about people, Tabitha and I needed to learn that, so after our little scrap got it out of my system I took Phillip with me and got him cleaned up. We got talking.”
“You offered real help. I just gave him sympathy.”
“And trust. He needed all of those things and a proper chance to make a new life. I contacted an ex-service charity – Combat Stress. He’s been suffering from hyper-vigilance disorder and they’re working with him on that but a new focus for his mind, like a job and a decent place to live is really helpful they tell me. The farm gives him that.”
“A bit like my panic attacks…” My voice drifts away.
“A little distraction works wonders for that too.” Jack raises his eyebrow.
I blush. “We’re talking about Phil,” I remind him.
“We are.” He stops teasing. “The charity and I are working together to help him recover. When I suggested the farm, they agreed it might be a fresh start. Of course, Phillip had to want it too. He’s a man with important skills, Tabby. He just needed a new direction for them.”
“You found that for him. Thank you so much, Jack. I know you did that for me as well as for him.”
“I’d do anything for you, kitten.”
“Just love me.”
“I already do.” He clasps me to him until I can’t breathe.
It reminds me, apart from the other night, which I put down to an aberration, I haven’t had a panic attack in ages. I’m much more settled now. More comfortable in my own skin and Jack has brought me to that place. I feel closer to him than I’ve ever felt. He understands me. He cares how I feel. We complement each other in so many ways.
Back at the house we’re just in time to join the others for a light brunch. Everyone is talking excitedly about the afternoon’s plans. When I hear we’re attending the Irish Derby at The Curragh Racecourse, an annual event hosted by Jack for his entire family and friends, I realise this is why they’ve come from the four corners of the world, this weekend, to be together in Dublin.
I fret, going through the contents of my suitcase in my mind. “I don’t think I have the right clothes for that sort of event. Why didn’t you tell me?” I scold quietly.
He winks at me. “It was a secret, remember? Trust me.”
I relax. Jack never leaves anything to chance. He asks the family to excuse us from the table and takes me by the hand.
He guides me upstairs to his own bedroom and I look around me in total fascination.
“Yes, Tabitha, this is the bedroom I grew up in. It’s been decorated several times since those days however. You won’t find any toy cars or teddy bears, or dirty magazines, if that’s what you’re looking for.”
“I’m not saying a word.” I’m thinking plenty though and grinning much more. I try to imagine the boy that grew into the man I love, living in this very spot.
Jack opens his sliding closet and lifts out a full-length fabric garment bag. He hangs it over the door frame and unzips it revealing a stunning silver-grey dress which I can only describe as belonging to a mythical Grecian queen. It’s swathes drape separately to outline each breast and it is daringly low-cut.
I drag awestruck eyes from it for one moment to turn and look at Jack.
“You’ll look amazing.” His Arctic blue eyes travel the length of my body sizing me up, no doubt imagining what I’ll look like wearing it.
“It’s rather daring,” I say, touching the fabric reverently. I consider exactly how much cleavage will be on show. “Are you sure about me wearing this in public?” I know if I wear it men will stare and I also know how Jack reacts to that sort of thing. If any man so much as looks below my chin, it’ll be Ben Gunn, Laurent and Luc rolled into one.
“You’ll be on my arm, right here.” He taps his left forearm. “And I forbid you to even think about wearing anything remotely like it, unless I’m right there beside you.”
I laugh at his jealousy. He may act like he’s joking but I know better by now.
“I swear I won’t move all day long, if it means I can wear this dress. Think you can handle it though?” I raise an eyebrow in mock query.
“I think I might just about be able to manage you and all the other fine fillies.”
“That better be the equine runners you’re referring to, Jack Keogh, not female race-goers.”
“Would you be jealous, I wonder, if I looked at another woman the way I look at you?” His lips twitch in amusement as he grazes my cheek with the backs of his fingers.
“What I’d do wouldn’t be pretty.”
“Then everyone is perfectly safe.” He leaves me to extrapolate his meaning.
“Thank you for this lovely gift, Jack.” I’m talking about the dress, the visit to his family home and his love, all combined. I feel like a princess already. I stretch up to kiss his lips and can’t even wipe the excited smile off my face while I do it.
It must be contagious as Jack’s kiss turns into a giant grin too. He likes to make me happy and he’s made me so very happy this weekend. Like I’m the most special woman in the entire world.
“There’s a Philip Treacy hat to match and other stuff too.”
“Other stuff? Like panties? Tell me you bought panties,” I joke.
He grabs hold of me, tearing me away from sliding the softness of the dress fabric through my fingers like a silk waterfall. “There are definitely panties. Ones I approve of very much.”
“Tiny little ones, then?”
“Miniscule.” He locks me in place against his body. “And thinking of you barely wearing those tiny little silk panties is doing terrible things to me.”
“I can tell.” I wriggle seductively against him. “How soon do we have to leave?”
He growls. “Too soon. You need to get ready now. The first race starts in only a few hours.”
“You wouldn’t want to miss that.”
He strokes my hair. “Keogh men like their horses.”
“Better than their women?”
“They like nothing better than their women.” He lifts me and topples me backwards onto his bed and falls on top of me until I feel the solid weight of him pressing downwards. He grinds into me nuzzling my jaw and neck and blowing softly against my ear until I’m writhing and breathless beneath him.
I hear an extended sigh and as I open my eyes, he pushes himself off me to stand.
“Jack. You can’t leave me like this.” I really want him. I need him. “I’m going crazy here.”
All I get is a wicked twist of his lips. “That’s how you leave me far too often.”
“We can do something about that,” I tease, stretching and arching my back in the way he told me not to this morning; drawing up my knees and parting them in open invitation.
“I plan to.” He grabs my hand, drags me to my feet and pushes me out of his door into the corridor. “I’ll ask one of my sisters to bring your outfit along. Go get ready.”
He shuts his door on me, leaving me wondering what else he is planning to satisfy my needs.
I’m tonging my hair into long, loose curls as Eimear arrives carrying my dress. She reaches outside the door to bring in a hatbox, shoebox and a couple of bags.
I stop to help her carry in all the riches. “Does Jack dress his dates every year in such luxury?”
She comes right ins
ide closing the door behind her and sits on the end of the bed.
“Don’t you know you’re the only woman my brother has ever brought to the Derby?” She seems amused I’d think it was any other way.
“But he hosts it every year.”
“For family and friends and all our partners. But he always comes alone.”
Could those women in photographs I cried over have been family or acquaintances, much of the time? “Not even Amanda Devereaux?” He was engaged to her.
“You know about her?” She looks surprised.
I nod. I note the expression of distaste on her features with satisfaction. “Didn’t he bring her to Ireland when they were engaged?”
“Not even then. Not that that lasted long, thank goodness.”
“You met her then.”
“Some of us have met her. Aiden and I stayed with Jack in London en route to Dubai. That was just after he came home to explain his situation to the family.”
“Of course, he’d want you to be the first to know he was getting married. How did your parents take it?”
“They weren’t happy at all but he wouldn’t go back on his decision. We could tell Jack didn’t love her. Not the way he loves you.”
“You can tell?” I’m amazed.
She stares at me as if I’m missing the point. “He’s my brother. You think I can’t tell how crazy he is about you?”
“How does everyone feel about that?” I venture. I so want their approval, for Jack’s sake as well as my own.
“We’re thrilled for him. We can see how truly happy you make him.”
“I don’t always make him happy,” I confess. “I drive him insane most of the time.”
She laughs. “He even loves that about you.”
“He talks about me?”
“Of course, he does. We’re his family. We’re close. He’s always going to share his life with us. You can see how close we all are.”
I sigh. It’s a relief. “So you don’t mind that we’re together?”
“You love him don’t you?”
